Ancalagon

The Story of Ancalagon Records

I founded Ancalagon Records in 1999 because I wanted to have complete artistic control over every aspect of my recordings.

In the beginning – like anyone else learning the ropes of a new profession – I made a lot of mistakes. Truth be told, I am a musician first and a businessperson a far distant second. So I had no idea how to bargain or bid on production costs, how to use a calculator, and it took me a long while to find all the fabulous folks who are now happily associated with Ancalagon. Nevertheless, I was and still am very proud of the Bach Concerto Album with the New York Bach Ensemble (a group made up of mostly friends, to which I gave a catchy name) which was released in June 2001.

In the fall of 2001, I did a cross-Canada in-store tour (there were still stores then!) to promote that first album, and learned that record stores no longer were little community centers. I showed up more than once to play a Bach fugue for a couple of employees only. Although they were very appreciative, the simple truth was that there were much better ways to spend time and marketing dollars.

Even still, sales were strong. But it wasn't until iTunes got in touch with me in 2005 to ask for the album (yup, they called me, is that not really cool?), that sales became big enough for all of us at Ancalagon to get serious about our next project. With the Concerto Album spending weeks as #1 on iTunes Classical, and nearly a year in the top 20, we were pretty motivated to build on this success.

In particular, it just seemed like the right time to record the complete Bach solo violin works. While it is true that a double CD set is a tall order for a small label, we had one big thing going for us – no need to pay for the violin soloist! This was the first of many projects I have worked on together with Martha De Francisco, and we had some glorious days with the great engineer, Leslie-Ann Jones at the wonderful Skywalker Sound studios, particularly since I am a lifelong fan of George Lucas. It was also my first SACD recording.

The Bach Solo did extremely well in 2007, allowing me to begin thinking about my next project, in which I wanted to go in a completely different direction. A violin concerto had come my way, courtesy of Faber publishing, written by a then 38-year-old Australian composer, Matthew Hindson. Written for a huge orchestra with 28 percussion instruments, no North American conductors wanted to take a chance on it. My reaction was immediate: "Well then, I'll just record it!"

That was the genesis of the Hindson/Corigliano/Liszt/Kennedy project with the Royal Philharmonic of London and Sarah Ioannides conducting. Recorded at Air Lyndhurst Studios in Hampstead, London, it was a tough three days for everyone! Still, I love all those pieces, and always will. Expensive to produce, I had to drum up some sponsorships for that record, also because modern works just don't sell like Bach. Looking back, maybe this is the project I am proudest of – it took a lot to get that album from inception to finished product, and it will always be the premiere recording of the Hindson. Also, it has a niche audience, as it continues to sell modestly, but consistently, every month.

The natural follow up to this was to go with some rather better-known repertoire. “And why not the very best-known?” I thought. Coincidentally, thanks to the conductor Eduardo Marturet, an opportunity had just arisen to do a recording with the unstoppable Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra in Venezuela. So we did Vivaldi's Four Seasons and Piazzolla's Four Seasons.

That was heaps of fun – those little guys are just the very embodiment of music. It was as though they were born playing that Piazzolla.

2009 also saw the beginning of Ancalagon's “World Music” division, which produced Apolkalypse Now, the debut album by Polkastra, my Polka band (for more on that, please see Ancalagon WORLD).

2010 seemed like a good time to perform a little Mozart back at home in New York City again, particularly the monumental Sinfonia Concertante, which I have been performing with my brother Scott since I was 10 and he 11. We had done a Bach concert together with the Knights in Central Park the previous summer, and their playing was fresh, young, enthusiastic and exceedingly skilled. Perfect for Mozart! At first I considered doing the Concertone (a very young Mozart piece for two violins, oboe and chamber orchestra) to create an album, but my brother pointed out (rightly so) that it's a bit silly to do something neither of us knew well or felt strongly about just to fill up time. We discussed the violin/viola duos (which we knew really well), but why have such a splendid orchestra and not use it? So in the end, we each picked our favourite violin concerto, and lo, the Mozart album was born.

That album spent three months on the Billboard Classical chart and was the only independent label there at any point during that period. I consider that to be some sort of victory.

It also won the 2011 Juno award for Best Classical Album (Soloist(s) with Large Ensemble).

Recent projects include one more Bach album which came out Feb 14, 2012 – this time Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord (without the 'sichord'') with Marie-Pierre Langlamet on harp, recorded in Berlin in early January 2011. This is a very cool project because she is the best harp player in the world, and I think I learned a lot. How to play softly, yet carry a big stick, for one. Also, this was my first time recording in Germany. We went on the road with a Northeastern 'Harpolin' tour in Feb/March 2012 - who knew such a beautiful instrument could be so unwieldy!

I also executive-produced my first album - a project with the Knights orchestra which released in the spring of 2012. We called this fascinating oeuvre album The Knights: A Second of Silence. It is a trip down the minimalism road and includes the music of Satie, Glass, Feldman, and some new transcriptions, as well as the Schubert Unfinished, and his third symphony.

Polkastra has been hard at work on "I Do" (the Wedding Album for the Couple with a Sense of Humour) It is hilarious, fabulous, knee slapping and irreverent, and we are looking forward to the early 2013 release immensely. Folks can expect tracks like 'Shotgun Wedding March', 'J.S. Bachelor Party', the 'Kosher Chicken Dance', and special guests such as David Krakauer and Isabel Bayrakdarian.

And, bit by bit, my Eastern European/Composer project is taking shape. Thousands of tunes, and years of listening; very soon now I'll have a program that I can try out live, the likes of which no one has ever heard, derived from tunes that have not been heard for decades.

And then, it'll be time to do another newly commissioned concerto... and maybe a new sonata project… and then…

This second recording collaboration between Ancalagon Records and Langlamet gives a portrait of Schubert’s life from early to late in his short, prolific career. Langlamet does not arrange the keyboard parts, but performs them exactly as written by Schubert.

“Had Schubert lived into the era of the double-action pedal harp, I am quite certain he would have written his Harfner songs and Arpeggione sonata to be paired with this instrument,” says St. John, “not to mention the extraordinary aural filigree herein possible with his impromptus and the whirling wheel of Gretchen, spun by Marie-Pierre.”

Reviews/Quotes:

"Violinist Lara St. John has become a special brand of raconteur in the classical music business. Her early Bach recordings are quite exceptional, but St. John has cleared a path with some well-conceived projects like her recent Bach Sonatas with harpist Marie-Pierre Langlamet and coupling of Vivaldi and Piazzolla over The Four Seasons. Entitled simply Schubert, St. John programs a recital of Schubert pieces from early and late in the young composer's life, using the unique format of violin, cello (Ludwig Quandt), harp (Langlamet) and soprano voice (Anna Prohaska). The vocal selections are songs based on Goethe. St. John's daring pays off in a highly listenable recording that has much to teach us about performance and interpretation."

"...absolutely fascinating and engrossing. St. John's relaxed and friendly presentation is perfect, and her commentary always apposite and perceptive. It's absolutely indispensable stuff for student violinists, and offers fascinating and revelatory insight for anyone interested in how concert performances are built."

"As I have said before, Ancalagon continues to demonstrate first rate production values present in high class and informative booklets with texts and translations, and superior as-good-as-you-can-get SACD surround sound. This recital, redolent of the type of soiree that Schubert engaged in so often, will provide a boatload of pleasure. Five out of five stars."

"I have found each and every selection and performance to contain intricate detailing of not only Schubert’s personality, but the musicians also successfully imbed their own unique voices to naturally meld themselves into Schubert’s world. The smile on my face broadens with each listening until it hurts and I must stop the music in order to recover my senses!."

"Most striking is a set of three Impromptus drawn from Op. 90, and all played on the solo harp with remarkable dexterity and sensitivity. Released on St. John’s own Ancalagon Records label, the collection is beautifully packaged, with a mesmerizing cover image of a ship under a moody sky."

"Ms. Langlamet manages these Impromptus in positively gorgeous fashion, gliding effortlessly through each number. You'll feel you're being carried away on a cloud on a spring day the way she plays them. .....What a thoroughly lovely disc."

Project Description:

BACH SONATAS
Lara St. John and Marie-Pierre Langlamet
Featuring Sonatas by J.S. Bach Performed on Violin and Harp, released February 14, 2012.

This winter, celebrated violinist Lara St. John and Marie-Pierre Langlamet, principal harpist of the Berlin Philharmonic, present an album of J.S. Bach sonatas offering a new perspective and performed on violin and harp. Always a thought-provoking musician, St. John raises the question of authenticity and performance practice on this new disc. Bach was a prolific composer, but also an inveterate arranger of his own work and that of others. The adaptability of this music, its capacity to be reinterpreted in new contexts, by different instruments, is perhaps its most authentic quality. It is in this spirit that the pieces are performed.

Reviews/Quotes:

Bach Sonatas Album Reviews

St. John pulls from her 1779 “Salabue” Guadagnini a tawny sound and subtle but wild interpretive concept that’s both highly addictive and totally authentic.
St. John and Langlamet particularly use this command of the eternally romantic violin and harp genre to exploit the music’s alternating moods of minor-key seriousness and major-key joy and exaltation."

'Right from the melancholy beauty of the opening Adagio of "Sonata No. 1 in B minor", it's a successful translation, with the subsequent Allegro revealing the dragonfly poise, beauty and manouverability afforded by the combination. The Adagio Ma Non Tanto section of "Sonata No. 3 in E minor" confirms a perfect, nuanced relationship between the two instruments, Lara St. John adding brief sprays of pizzicato at crucial moments. Faithful, yet innovative.'"

'These are amazingly cool performances in temperament that generate warmth as the two instruments unite synergistically. On Bach Sonatas, St. John finds a musical soul mate and continues to cultivate her unique approach to making old music new again. The harp is a perfect foil for her crisp interpretation of Bach and Langlamet fully fits the bill as its driver. This prepares Bach for the parlor, that time-tested tradition of intimate performance among close friends.'"

St. John’s finely-played performance deserves focus as she clearly has an affinity for the cadence of Bach. The more subdued keyboard part isn’t necessarily a bad thing, either; Langlamet is a first-rate musician and her harp breathes a lilting freshness into the pieces. Its timbre also lends an appropriately stately aura."

Seldom has Bach sounded more delightfully autumnal. What I had initially pegged as a great relaxation album (which I’m sure it is) also contained a poetic allure, in its slow movements, which imbued everything with wonder."

The joy of the recording is the simple, unusual setting; these sonatas are usually done with harpsichord or piano, and hearing the works performed with harp accompaniment make them seem fresh, delicate and wholly new."

"When the music is as brilliant and sparkling as we have here—Bach would certainly be thrilled—there simply remains no excuse under the sun to avoid acquiring this disc immediately. This composer oozes from the souls of these two performers."

....this is a refereshing take on Bach that shows some rethinking of the issues of historically informed practices of versus modern performances and shows there are more than just two ways to interpret the music.."

" Indeed, after hearing just the first sonata, I couldn't imagine wanting to hear it any other way......The results are not just enchanting but sometimes stunning, turning familiar tunes into welcome new creations"

" Lara St. John happens to be a volcanic violinist with a huge, fabulous tone that pours out of her like molten lava. She has technique to burn and plays at a constant high heat. She is uninhibited, sometimes strikingly so.....But what makes her unique is the way she puts everything together. She has utter command of the material and the instrument. And she has seemingly utter spontaneity...."

Press Release:

Project Description:

The Knights
A SECOND OF SILENCE
Eric Jacobsen, conductor
New Album dedicated to Schubert and Minimalism, featuring two Schubert symphonies paired with music by Erik Satie, Morton Feldman and Philip Glass. Released as an iTunes Exclusive February 28, 2012, with SACD/CD Hybrid on April 3, 2012

First American tour in April 2012

NEW YORK, NY – February 15, 2012 –

This spring, celebrated ensemble The Knights under the direction of Eric Jacobsen present “A Second of Silence,” a new album juxtaposing the works of Schubert with examples of minimalism from Satie, Feldman and Glass. The album will be released as an iTunes digital exclusive on February 28, 2012, with a wide release to all retailers on April 3, 2012. This release marks the ensemble’s second appearance on the Ancalagon label. Their first, a release of Mozart concerti with Lara and Scott St. John, won the 2011 Juno Award for Best Classical Album (Soloist with Large Ensemble).

In April, The Knights will embark on their first American tour. This eight-concert event will feature Copland's Appalachian Spring together with music of Ives, Dvorak, Golijov and Gaby Frank. The appearances take the ensemble to Troy, NY; Akron, OH; Granville, OH; Sewanee, TN; Columbus, GA; Athens, GA; Amherst, MA; and Rockville Centre, NY (tour details below).

“That kind of hovering, as if you’re in a register you’ve never heard. That’s one of the magics of Schubert.” – Morton Feldman

An ensemble that strives to bring a new perspective to familiar works, The Knights present the music of Schubert next to contemporary sounds. The works featured on “A Second of Silence” all evoke in some measure the tranquil “hovering” described by Feldman. They are not merely tranquil - quiet meditations are frequently interrupted by violent gesture - but dissolution into silence remains their ultimate object. Listeners are confronted with the contradiction between, on the one hand, progress towards a resolution, and, on the other, a relentless procession of repeated rhythms and melodic figures. The two Gymnopedies of Satie, in arrangements by Debussy, are perhaps the simplest examples of this sensation of drifting quiet, tending towards stillness though infinite in their potential for repetition.

“The kind of shared longing that he has, this saturated, unending longing." This is how Morton Feldman described Samuel Beckett, who is one connecting thread on the latest album. “But those words seem to describe all the music represented here, with a particular focus on Franz Schubert,” says Colin Jacobsen, Co-Artistic Director and Concertmaster of the Knights. “Those words account for the way Satie, Glass, Feldman and Schubert convey depth of feeling, contrast of light and dark, solitude and intimacy with the simplest of means."

"The Knights have been seeking a way to make a personal, intimate experience possible within the orchestral context, and this music spoke to us as part of that quest,” explains Eric Jacobsen, Co-Artistic Director and Conductor of the Knights. He conveys a simple message to the audience: “We hope this music seeps under your skin, finds its way into your heart, and before you know it the rest of the world will evaporate."

Reviews/Quotes:

" Talent For Punctuating Classics With Surprises...this ensemble has a formula, it is based on balancing new and unusual works with the most basic canonic classics."

DigiBooklet:

Project Description:

Violinists Lara and Scott St. John present a new Mozart recording to be released exclusively on iTunes two months prior to the Hybrid SACD/CD release on October 12th. The siblings St. John share the spotlight in three of the composer’s violin concerti recorded on Lara’s Ancalagon label. The focal point of the album is Mozart’s monumental Sinfonia Concertante (K. 364), the last and greatest of his string concerti. This piece is rarely recorded in its original form, with the viola part in scordatura. Scott St. John takes up the viola to join his sister on the recording, making this the first time the Sinfonia Concertante has ever been recorded by siblings. The remainder of the album lets each St. John take center stage. The Violin Concerto No. 1 (K. 207) is led by Scott, and Lara has the solo voice in the Violin Concerto No. 3 (K. 216). The innovative New York-based ensemble The Knights accompany the pair on all the works (also led by a sibling act composed of conductor Eric Jacobsen and concertmaster Colin Jacobsen). The internationally acknowledged sound recording legend Tonmeister Martha de Francisco is recording producer.

Reviews/Quotes:

" The slow andante of the Sinfonia Concertante is gorgeous. Lara St. John says she and her brother Scott have always encouraged one another and that collaborative nature comes through beautifully in this double concerto."

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Project Description:

An eclectic and international cast of characters including a Canadian folk fiddler, the Met's contrabassoonist, an Israeli accordionist and percussionist, a jack-of-all-trades bassist, a French Horn playing record store clerk and an internationally renowned violin soloist met in a New Jersey studio to record a polka album just for fun. An idea that began as a lark quickly grew into an eccentric, virtuosic and energetic exploration of the roots of polka: folk, country, classical and jazz. Polkastra is a unique world music project that celebrates both the joy of music and the power of dance to unite cultures. From the American Midwest and the North of Canada to the mountains of Bohemia and the deserts of Israel - Apolkalypse Now poses the important question "Would you like sauerkraut, poutine, goulash or hummus with that?"

Reviews/Quotes:

"All About Jazz Top Ten Releases of 2009 "

All About Jazz, January 6, 2010

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"Much of the set was silly stuff, in a good way, and a reminder that musical comedy works best when the musicianship is first-rate. "

New York Times, September 16, 2009

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In a similar vein comes Polkastra with their cleverly put together and musically superb Apolkalypse Now.

All About Jazz, August 2009

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There's everything but the kitchen sink in this album: quotes from Beethoven and Paganini, Gypsy licks, impressive contrabassoon solos, and laughter. It's a lot of fun.

Violinist.com Interview, August 2009

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The playing is virtuosic and energetic, but not too disciplined that it falls into the “stuffy” category and not too ragged that we feel the musicians are creating a phony atmosphere. After all, a few beers relax but a keg quickly dissipates into chaos!

Audiophile Audition, August 2009

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The Grammys may have cancelled its category -- but Lara St. John's polka record is still the dance album of the year.

The London Free Press, August 2009

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The group attacks the genre with genuine gusto, evoking the dizzy, sweaty revelry of a Bohemian beer hall...After all, the world is a happier place when songs end with a hearty 'Hey!'.

The Piazzolla is certainly one of the best things Lara St. John has ever recorded; she plays with unbridled passion and a kind of sexy ferociousness, and dips into interpretive effects more common to long ago violinists...swooping portamento, a beautifully weighty projection of the melodic line and a very high level of expressiveness, edge and passion maintained throughout the performance.

DigiBooklet:

Project Description:

John Corigliano writes:

I'm thrilled to be included in a new recording by the brilliant and always surprising Lara St. John. She is a real maverick, as a performer and in her choice of repertoire. An opulent and virtuosic new violin concerto and my Red Violin suite are coupled with a newly arranged version of a 19th century pianistic tour de force in her latest stunning release.

"St. John demonstrates the pioneer spirit in an art often thought of as dusty and drab. Her effect on the music is one of warm humidity, a frankly sensual vision seen through the lenses of certain youth, wonder, and determination."

"Hindson’s music is monumentally eclectic...Lara St. John shows an admirable spirit of risk-taking with this disc... it’s an exciting recording that tells us a lot about the ambition and independent-mindedness of this excellent violinist."

"St John is particularly adept at balancing the interplay of internal parts and preserving continuity of line and rhythmic flow...she conveys the gravitas of Bach’s language with mature assurance...These attributes, combined with her clean, accurate left-hand technique, her keen ear for tonal colouring and the highly individual, largely unforced sound that she produces from her 1779 ‘Salabue’ Guadagnini violin, result in a thought-provoking achievement from a rapidly maturing artist, beautifully recorded in a unique three-dimensional manner."

"Lara St. John stands fully clothed by the beach on the cover of her new Ancalagon CD, but the Canadian violinist has become an even more impressively untamed Bach player than when her publicity photos were more provocative. Her account, in excellent SACD sound, of Bach's Sonatas and Partitas is wild, idiosyncratic and gripping."

"...easily the best in the past 20 years. She has lost none of her youthful and daring enthusiasm for the time-worn pieces while gaining a certain gravity that allows her to reveal additional treasures contained in the Master’s scores. St. John’s intonation and approach are flawless."

"St John owns this work and I have rarely been so convinced of the rightness of an interpretation...Her passionate, complex readings catapult to the top of my list, and I am still discovering things with score in hand after hearing the set four times so far."

"St. John's Bach has strong personal flair and a sense of dramatic sweep, as though she were an actress playing a role rather than a musician with an instrument; it is variable in tone, broadly expansive rhythmically and dazzling technically. St. John's Bach is also, in a word or two, breathtakingly beautiful."

"St. John sounds terrific on these pieces, playing with big colors, intense interpretations, and in several cases, dazzling speed. Her tempos throughout are on the fast side, which I like, and she does memorable things with her performance like opening the D major of the big Chaconne from the Second Partita with a hushed, amost defeated sound, before building up again to the end."

"Her new recording (Bach: The Six Sonatas and Partitas for Violin Solo) is nothing if not intense. And like St. John's choices about marketing and packaging, it's also fresh and new. There's a brilliance and sparkle to her playing, an energy and momentum."

"The Montreal High Lights Festival inaugurated its classical programming Thursday with Lara St. John, a violinist once known for her eye-popping cover art and aggressive style. That was the 1990s. The blonde playing Bach in the Bonsecours Chapel was a serious musician, and of the highest order.A close-to-symphonic tone, a personal way with a phrase: Such artistry defeats all questions of historical correctness. If an interpretation that plumbs the depths and scales the heights of the famous Chaconne is not authentic, what is?

It was interesting to hear St. John project sustained notes without vibrato, not to attenuate the sound but to expand it. The fugue of the Sonata No. 3 was masterful both intellectually and technically. The double of the Courante from the Partita No. 1 was astonishing. What velocity and bravura!

St. John dedicated the Sonata to a friend whose death she learned of only that afternoon. Is this why the recital was so powerfully conceived and expressed? Only about 70 people were present, but they will not soon forget the experience."

DigiBooklet:

Project Description:

Reviews/Quotes:

At long last, Lara St. John has returned to the recording studio after establishing her own record label and has given us more music by her favorite composer. We have here the canonical solo concertos in A minor and E and the Double Concerto in D minor. The performances are delightful, individual, even exciting, unlike any other recording of these works that I know. This should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with St. John's playing. Before I heard this recording, I never realized that this music had so much drama, specially in the slow movements. As with any really great performance, I felt as though I were hearing the music for the very first time. The New York Bach Ensemble is a superb group that brings out the contrapuntal interplay between orchestra and soloists like no other group I've heard. Best of all, they match the soloist's enthusiasm. One thing I especially like is that the keyboard part is sometimes assigned to a chamber organ rather than the usual harpsichord.

St. John is joined by her brother Scott, professor of violin at the University of Toronto, in the Double Concerto, and their stylistic unity is a real plus. St. John plays the Sonata with the same high-octane style she has in the concertos. The fugue is especially exciting; and, while many don't know what to do with the opening Adagio, she understands its mercurial, improvisational character very well. She finds a trembling delicacy in the Siciliana that has eluded others.

This recording of the concertos is in a class by itself. I can't even think of a recording that I would name as second best to this one. Those who have not yet acquainted themselves with St. John's exceptional artistry would do well to hear this. Excellent sound.

American Record Guide, May 2002

Lately, folks are starting to take Lara St. John—the Canadian-born violinist that Fashion Toronto once called a "six-foot amazon with the waist-length, honey-blonde tresses"—much more seriously. Of course, St. John, a shrewd marketer as well as a gifted performer, has caused a storm of controversy, posing nude on the cover of her debut CD (her breasts were obscured by the violin) and often making suggestive comments in the press.

A recent review of this CD prompted Gramophone to scoff that St. John (who appears vamping in heavy makeup and see-through dress in a booklet fold-out on a poster-size pin up) "has no need to engage in such ignoble marketing ploys" while praising her "silvery" tone, "fleet tempos," and remarkable technique. St. John’s approach to these demanding works is a combination of supple grace and power. There is so much joy in St. John’s performance (she plays exquisitely on the 1779 "Salabue" Guadagnini known as The Resurrection) that it would be a shame to dismiss her for being crass or just too darn cute.

Strings Magazine, May 2002

Lara St John does not play a Baroque violin but is clearly aware of current trends in period instrument performance practice. She has a sleek and silvery one, favours fleet tempos, and applies vibrato judiciously. The effect in these Bach concertos is reminiscent of Kennedy’s recording with the Berlin Philharmonic yet considerably more stylish and satisfying. Even if the New York Bach Ensemble cannot match Berlin’s plush string sound, the New Yorkers evoke the unique character of each work, making a clear distinction, for example, between the thick textures of the A minor Concerto and the airier quality of its E major counterpart.

As for St John, she makes the most ordinary passages come to life. Listen to the brief, ascending sequence beginning at 2’ 27” in the first movement of the A minor Concerto, which she grips so tightly, the pressure can be felt in one’s chest. She can be charming as well as intense. Her playing of the E major Concerto’s finale, for example, is joyous and balletic - a far cry from Kennedy’s jagged account. Ballet also comes to mind in the opening movement of the Double Concerto, as St John and her brother Scott bound through the intricately entwined solo parts like dancers leaping in and out of each other’s arms. The sublime Largo is transformed into a lilting Siciliano - open-hearted and ecstatic rather than hushed and reverential.

Filling out the disc, St John gives a provocative performance of the G minor solo Sonata. Some listeners may be taken aback by the expressive edginess she brings to the opening Adagio, or by by the slashing chords in the fugue, but it is difficult to argue with such a technically dazzling and unfailingly musical interpretation.

Strongly recommended, then, despite the album’s distasteful artwork. Although St John does not pose nude here - as she did for for a previous album, with only a violin for cover - her posture is suggestive. And the booklet folds out into a poster-size pinup in which she appears wearing heavy lipstick and exhaling a lazy curl of cigarette smoke. Given her exceptional talent, St John has no need to engage in such ignoble marketing ploys, Her playing speaks for itself.

Gramophone February 2002

DigiBooklet:

Project Description:

Reviews/Quotes:

The selections on this CD are, for the most part, familiar classical compositions. On "Carmen" Fantasie (Franz Waxman), and Variations on Dark Eyes (Ilan Rechtman), tracks one and two respectively, Ms. St. John's violin sings and cries with so much feeling that I sat fixated, listening to each note as it gently lingered in the air of the recording venue long past the moment at which it was played. Track seven, Ravel's Tzigane, is as exquisitely performed as track nine, Czardas Caprice (Ilan Rechtman). Both of these pieces are full of the gypsy spirit. Throughout this recording pianist/composer Ilan Rechtmen accompanies Ms. St. John with a beautiful, sensitive and complimentary piano.

DigiBooklet:

Project Description:

Reviews/Quotes:

St. John saves her best playing for the Sonata No. 3, particularly in the Adagio/Fuga sections where her double stops are heart-rending, full-bodied and passionate. The Fuga is the pinnacle of refinement. St. John’s single note articulation is rarified. Bach: Works for Solo Violin, Partita No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004, Sonata No. 3. in C Major, BWV 1005 is a great Bach violin sampler that should make the listener look forward to St. John’s recording for the complete Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin (BWV 1001–1006).

DigiBooklet:

Project Description:

Lara's first CD release on Sony Classical, re: Bach features bold and innovative arrangements of the music of J.S. Bach that reframe it in new soundscapes that draw on jazz, world and pop influences. The recording brings Lara together with English composer/producer Magnus Fiennes and arranger Brian Gascoigne, along with such unusual guest artists as the Indian tabla virtuoso Trilok Gurtu and pedal steel guitar legend B.J. Cole.